Most people, including myself, usually purchase electric items in store rather than online. This can be for many reasons, probably because you want the item that day rather than in 3-5 days time. However, when items are purchased in store, you have no statutory time to a refund (cooling off period).

For the sake of argument, I will use purchasing a new mobile phone for example. Perhaps I speak for myself, but going into your local network provider and making the decision on what phone to purchase is all that more difficult when you know that as soon as you leave, that phone is yours for two years. The toughest discussion of all is iPhone or Samsung? Maybe you are an iPhone user, considering moving over to Samsung/android (or vise vera)? It’s almost like you need to try the new phone before you can commit to a full two years of monthly instalments.

This is actually very possible.

With a warm welcome of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.45 (3), it is a legal requirement for ONLINE purchases to have a statutory minimum 14 day cooling off period.

This means you can walk into your local store (network provider for argument sake), view the new released phones, and then return home to order the item online.

This then means that you have 14 days to test the new phone, to which at any point within this 14 days, you are entitled to a full refund. But, are there any down sides? Perhaps, the only I can think of is the credit check. Let’s say for example you return a phone within 14 days, and decide to take a different one, you will have to undergo a second credit check for the second phone.

For most, this shouldn’t be a problem. But for those with poor credit history, you could be stuck without a phone at all. I can’t say I am 100% certain in this, maybe the provider will take into consideration your return of the first item, maybe not!